Don't Tread On The Bear
by Seifer Almasy 911
Summary: You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, and you can't come to rule over all of New Vegas without making a few enemies in the process. M!CourierxCass.


Don't Tread On The Bear

The legendary Courier Six of the Mojave Express hadn't risen from the grave and gotten as far as they had without being stronger and certainly smarter than most people to be encountered in the Mojave Wasteland but for all his cunning, careful plotting and crafty trickery he had finally met his match. Things hadn't gone quite as well as he had planned once General Oliver had been thrown over the side of Hoover Dam and the New California Republic was forced to retreat - as was Caesar's Legion. The one fatal flaw he hadn't planned for, hadn't expected, was that Oliver's replacement would be daring enough to march into New Vegas no matter the cost and attack him directly. It was this daring attack that had turned New Vegas and the surrounding area into an entirely new war zone, one where the war wasn't far off with some rarely seen enemy. The NCR had given up its usual tactics and sent a Ranger squad for Alex while the rest of what was left of their military in the region attempted to wrestle Vegas from his control. With him dead and Vegas under NCR rule he assumed they planned to then take the dam. Whatever they were planning Alex was pinned down inside the Lucky 38, long since converted into a more suitable living place for him Rangers ready to take her head off and present it to their superiors on a silver platter.

"You shoulda taken the easy way, kid." One of them spoke up, shouting over the gunfire as she reloaded her rifle, "Could've done better than dyin' in this shithole!"

"Could say the same to you!" Alex cocked his now reloaded revolvers, swung out of cover and started shooting, his first bullet catching one of the male rangers just under his chin.

The man fell instantly, blood pouring from his wound as he started choking out labored breaths which mostly came out as sick gurgling sounds and seconds later his writhing around at the feet of his comrades ceased entirely.

"Son of a _cock loving whore_!" The nameless female ranger eyed her dead comrade as she took cover, a Securitron spraying her position with machine gun fire.

If it hadn't been for the NCR secretly working with the Brotherhood Of Steel and Followers Of The Apocalypse behind Alex's back to find a way to disable the upgraded Securitrons she would've already been dead like the man at her side. Luckily the three groups, working closely for a period of months finally managed to find a way to at least sabotage their programming, keeping them from using their upgraded weapons.

"Get rid of that fucking thing!" The Ranger demanded and was quickly obliged by the man on her other side who quickly poked out from behind cover and put several rounds right through the Securitron's digital face.

"Damn it." Alex breathed, most of the Securitron's that had been in the lobby with her were now destroyed, and no one else was in the casino at the time, she either had to take the Rangers out soon or fall back to the elevator and wait for them on another floor, "Shit..."

If only things had played out differently, Alex may not have been trapped inside his own home fighting off a squad of blood thirsty Rangers. If Cook and his men hadn't been way out in Vault 19, where they could do serious damage to the NCR but couldn't act as cannon fodder in the current battle, if only Cass had been visiting for a drink or two or a dozen, if only the Boomers had learned to embrace the outside world more than they had and were present with their heavy firepower, if only so much had gone so differently things might've worked out much better than they had. As soon as that thought passed through his head Alex suddenly realized the last of his Securitrons had been taken out; the shooting stopped and the Rangers cautiously came out of cover to close in on him. Before they could reach him the doors flew open but the shooting didn't start up again - whoever it was it wasn't someone there to save Alex.

"He still alive?" The all too familiar voice asked, something Alex hadn't quite expected either.

"For now." The female leader of the Rangers answered, "Can't promise she will be much longer."

No one let their gaze stray from where Alex was taking cover, keeping their guns trained on his position as Cass joined them, keeping her shotgun pointed at the bar as she slowly approached it.

"It's over, you know."

"Looks like it." Alex admitted, "Guess I can't say I'm surprised... no one in the NCR can be relied on. After all, you did get your entire caravan wiped out and then teamed up with me. Who's worse, the murderer or the one that helped put him in power?"

"Mind games don't work so well on me, I'll just drink 'til I forget this happened."

"So you don't want it to?"

"Somethings just have to."

"I suppose so. Well, I've lived just fine with my choices, here's to hoping you can live with yours."

"Yeah, here's to-"

Alex practically dove out from behind cover, firing his revolver as quickly as he could manage, throwing a grenade with his other hand as he man a mad dash for the elevator, and when his revolver was empty he simply dropped it and drew his 9mm pistol and kept shooting.

"Grenade!" The Ranger leader shouted as the explosive device bounced passed Cass and rolled right up to her feet.

Everyone distracted Alex jumped into the elevator and reloaded, watching the group disappear for sight, waiting for the sound of the grenade going off. The female Ranger made an attempt to kick the grenade away but it was too late; the grenade detonated instantly destroying her foot in a blood mess and wounding her elsewhere severely, though she was dead as soon as it went off, the three Rangers left and Cass barely able to get to cover though it didn't help much. Cass dove behind an over turned table, shrapnel catching her all over her right arm, legs and a couple red hot pieces tore through her torso. Before Cass could even get her own bearings she could hear the horrible sound of badly wounded men screaming and shouting in pain, whatever had happened to the Rangers it was much worse than Cass' own condition. Slowly and with excruciating pain shooting through her body the entire time Cass managed to push herself up off he floor and sit herself up, leaning against the table she had dove behind.

"Fucking Alex..." Cass groaned, ignoring the wounded Rangers as she took in her own wounds.

Though Cass had been peppered with shrpanel, the razor sharp shards dug deeply into her body, none of it seemed serious enough to keep her from going after Alex. She may have been injured but he was trapped, all Cass had to do was manage to not get shot like fish in a barrel as soon as the elevator doors opened. After a moment, clenching her jaw Cass struggled to her feet, her legs feeling as if they would give out at any moment, her right arm hanging almost useless at her side as she stumbled toward the elevator, bending over to retrieve her shotgun which was quite a task in itself. Cass called the elevator back down, got in cautiously when the doors opened and stepped inside. If she knew Alex as well as she'd always thought then he would be waiting in his penthouse suite. Cass took the elevator up, struggling to keep her shotgun pointing forward at even waist height. Not long after the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Nothing. Cass wasn't stupid enough to think Alex wasn't there though; she cautiously stepped forward and turned, nothing to her right, turned again, and pulled the trigger as Alex appeared, pistol in hand.

Both missed their first shots and Cass stopped Alex from shooting again as her next shot took the gun right out of his hand by complete dumb luck - she'd been hoping to rearrange his face. Cass reacted instinctively and charged Alex, slamming her shotgun into his chest, ignoring the burning pain in her legs as she forced him into the next section of the balcony wrapping around the entire suite. The pair took a dive down the stairs leading down to the massive screen Mr. House had once used to communicate with Alex when he'd first shown up in New Vegas, tumbling all over each other as they fell. Alex grunted as he hit the floor and attempted to unsheath his knife but it was no good; Cass rolled up into a sitting position not five feet in front of him and though her right arm was still near useless used her other hand to draw a revolver and let off a single shot.

The bullet his Alex almost dead center in his chest, leaving a nasty wound which quickly poured blood out onto his shirt, quickly starting to cover it in red. His hands dropped to his sides and Cass simply stared back at him for a moment, struggling to keep her revolver level, or even up and pointed at him at all.

"It was you or them." Cass panted after a long moment, then paused again, "Wasn't too hard of a choice, you cold bastard."

"NCR and proud and all of that shit, right?" Alex managed, his breathing labored, forcing a painful grin, "Well, time to be a hero."

"Yeah."

Near total silence enveloped them as they sat staring at each other for a moment. They had seen quite a lot with each other as they traveled the wasteland but Cass knew she couldn't do it anymore - she had never gotten around to telling him, but she should've. Alex had turned against the NCR early on, though he played every side against each other to take over, Cass had simply been able to turn away from him then and even now found it hard to actually say anything. He may have not been horrible for New Vegas, but they had been friends, even more if any of their many drunken nights together meant anything at all. That didn't stop him from being a traitor, a murderer, more of a problem than a solution.

A single gun shot and Alex fell over. Cass would have plenty of time to think about that later; when she was busy drowning her sorrows in another bottle of whiskey. Alone. Again.


End file.
